January 8, 2012

The Habs racked up another win last night with a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. This comes on the heels of a 7-3 thrashing of the Winnipeg Jets last week.It seems the team has managed to turn it around in the New Year despite all the turmoil in the front office and the press.

The burden of playing hockey in Montreal is notoriously heavy and it takes its toll on the Habs players at the best of times.This year has been especially hard with the firing of Jacques Martin and the hiring of unilingual Randy Cunneyworth.French nationalists even picketed the Bell Center (pre-game) last night in order to make their feeble point.Fortunately, Max Pacioretty (born in the US) didn't pay any attention to the protests and scored the winner for the Flying Frenchmen.Imagine the horror for the protesters realizing that Pacioretty probably scored in English.Of course I write this tongue in cheek and I don't mean to belittle the protest but it does seem to be a little over the top to try and nationalize the game of hockey.It is kind of like watching Bruins fans chant USA, USA, USA after they won the Cup last year.Simple math should have been enough to drive Bruins fans to chant Canada's or even Slovenia's name.

Nationalization is a double edge sword.Protesters in Montreal should remember that and hopefully they give everyone their fair due.Next time Pacioretty scores a winner for the Habs; I want to see the protesters outside the Bell Center chanting USA, USA, USA !!!Hmmm...I wonder what that will sound like in French.If they are not ready to do that, they should leave the Habs and Cunneyworth alone.